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Worst episode in Kanto. The ides that Pokémon came from outer space was the only interesting thing in this episode. Seymour was so annoying that it's difficult for me to even sit through it. His voice was that annoying. At least Brock got some battle time in this episode.

Fighting for real American turtles everywhere. Pro-Turtle since 6/30/13

The episode was ok. They went in a cave, saw a Clefairy, Brock caught a Zubat, Ash was there, Misty was there, Seymour was there, Gary was there, Ash is a loser, Misty is a loser, Clefairy is a loser.........yeah I don't remember this episode much. 6/10

The Scientist's voice....... urgh. I actually really liked the idea of introducing a Pokémon that is out of this world. It allows you to interpret more things about Pokémon and their history. It's also nice to see Team Rocket trying so hard but only to mess up again.

Ash, Brock, and Misty reach Mt. Moon and rescue a Character of the Day called Seymour from a flock of Zubat, with Brock catching one in the process. Seymour ex-posits about the history of the Clefairy and their giant Moonstone, which Team Rocket tried to steal, and looking pretty cool doing so, but failed. We also see Misty Battle proper for the first time with her Staryu. After saving the giant Moonstone, Ash gets trolled by Gary when they exit Mt. Moon, and the gang races off to catch up to him.

Taking in perspective from what I previously saw in the first episodes, this episode was mediocre. Not that it is bad to be mediocre, but there were some things that created disinterest in this episode, even though it introduced some Pokémon. The character of the day, Seymour, was not that interesting. The only thing you could deduce and - after seeing the episode- conclude that this guy has some serious obsessiveness with the Moon and Clefairy. .

So this episode is essentially the twerps helping an annoying CotD chase a Clefairy around. Not too brilliant, writers. Overrated episode, and I didn't care for the little message at the end. It made Gary seem like an idiot rather than someone Ash is trying to surpass.

Also, Misty should have used Staryu LONG before this episode. Can't believe this is it's first appearence...

Staryu's debut was the highlight of the episode for me. I cannot believe I just saw Koffing counter Onix. That was something. And I think this is the first episode they said "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again".

Another great episode, and Ash should've obtained a Clefairy somehow. Ideally one like Isamu Akai's Clefairy, perhaps ostracised from its group because of its personality/ attitude (rude, vulgar, lazy, loudmouthed, unintelligent and generally vile). Could've made a good counterpart to 'boy scout' Pikachu and completely different from any other Clefairy we've seen in the anime, usually portrayed as pretty shy and timid.

Having traveled through the Kanto (x2), Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos regions, plus the Orange & Decolore Islands, competing in six regional Pokémon League competitions, winning the Orange League, defeating the Kanto Battle Frontier, seeing/ meeting each of the rare and powerful Legendary/ Mythical Pokémon, some on numerous occasions, and continually fighting vigilantly against six villainous teams, Ash has apparently now decided to go to school.

This was an okay episode. After Brock joined Ash on his journey, the group were heading towards Mt. Moon. On their way, they encountered a man being attacked by a flock of Zubat. They saved the man and he thanks them before introducing himself as Dr. Seymour.
I thought It was odd when Dr. Seymour said that Clefairy came from outer space and the moon stone was their spacecraft, it seemed that some Pokémon live in outer space or another plant.
Team Rocket tried to stole the Moon Stones, but Ash and Brock stops them with Butterfree and Zubat.
It's cool when those Clefairy used Metronome and sent Team Rocket flying. Seeing Misty's Staryu for the first time was nice as well.
Gary left a stupid message on the Cerulean City sign ...."Gary was here! Ash is a loser!". It was kinda funny when Ash immediately ran down the road after seeing it.
I'm glad Brock caught a Zubat, but sadly the capture was off-screen.

The only memorable part of this episode for me was the Clefairy. I don't consider myself a fan of the Pokémon, but to have an episode dedicated to one of the rarest Pokémon out there and show how mysterious they are is neat. So while I otherwise forgot about loony-bin Seymour over the years (and his rhyming, that never caught on to me) and everything else, this episode at least hasn't been forgotten because of Clefairy. It's very possible that the Clefairy dancing—I mean praying around the Moon Stone has to be rather iconic for the series, or at least for the Clefairy species in general. It has to be second-in-line with them using Metronome. (Did they use Explosion or something at the end?) In all honesty, you would think that an episode where a main character captures a Pokémon for his team would be remembered somehow, but because they never showed Brock capturing a Zubat (I do not know if this is the same problem in the original Japanese), I had over the years actually forgotten when Brock caught a Zubat. This is probably the first out of many later lazy writing that is noticeable without going into great detail.

Now I will give this episode credit in that the theory Seymour mentions here does get mentioned again in the future at least one other time, thankfully in the same season. It's possible that the original concept was that Pokémon came from space—why else does the opening theme song show Mewtwo and Mew flying around out in space, and that the Birth of Mewtwo CD drama talks about space in the very beginning of the first chapter? This is a theory that really should've been touched upon more than it has, but perhaps it is for the best it wasn't. At the time, had Pokémon never continued past the first season, there probably wouldn't have been an issue with this little interesting tidbit. We all probably would've agreed nonetheless that Pokémon may have come from space. However, now that we have 700+ Pokémon, that theory is more and more ridiculous the longer we think about it. (A few Pokémon coming from outer space is fine otherwise, but for the entire Pokémon population to have come from space is extremely silly these days.)

But we'll get to that Chekhov's episode when we get there.

There's not much character development outside of Brock capturing a Zubat off-screen—even then, would that have counted as character development? Perhaps, as Zubat is not a Rock-type Pokémon, though it and Vulpix do become Brock's signature Pokémon outside of Onix, so at least Zubat is memorable. Eric Stuart also sounds better here, but not much. His bored tone is all but gone at this point, though I will have to say that Eric Stuart got into Brock pretty quickly. Not that Veronica Taylor and Rachel Lillis haven't gotten into their roles either, but they still sound a bit clunky compared to the more smoother performances we get from them later on.

Ahh, here is the famous “blasting off” segment that we will be getting from here-on out. Team Rocket in the meantime is a bit more threatening in this episode than they were the past two episodes. Probably because now they do have something to do: stealing the Moon Stone. They would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for those meddling kids and their Pikachu. (Pi-ka Pikachuuuu!) Actually, more like meddling kids and their Onix and Clefairy buddies, but whatever. It's at the ending where we get the clever pun-writing of 4KIDS as they're blasted off again. (Speaking of writing, really, 4KIDS? You made a Macarena reference? I get that it's a 90s show, but come on, pop culture in dubs doesn't always work too well. Though there are some exceptions, I suppose...) This is probably where Team Rocket starts to get some well-timed laughs, even though it's there to help balance out their villainous behavior. A balance that is sadly lost over time, so for now, I'm going to enjoy those jokes as they come.

Worth mentioning that it's funny in retrospect to have Seymour talking to Meowth for that one scene. I don't believe Maddie Blaustein has voiced anyone in the show up to this point (though I could be wrong and she may have voiced one of Brock's siblings), but there are times where it's easy to point her out. The voice she used for Seymour is nearly similar to the voice she would use for Meowth when she takes over, and it's slightly amusing.

Also, there's a weird transition halfway into the episode where Misty exclaims, “Oh no, Clefairy's running away!”, and we go straight to “Who's That Pokémon?” After that, we cut back to Clefairy climbing a cliff. As it's technically the same scene due to them being outside the cave, it would've made more sense to have the transition when Brock and Ash notice that Meowth is missing so that we can come back to the show when Clefairy comes out of the cave with Seymour and Misty following behind it. That's just how I see it personally.

So while the pacing felt a little off to me, it was a nice episode. Nothing too great, but nothing too bad for somewhat of a filler. It would've been nice to have seen more of Mt. Moon especially since it's a fairly big dungeon, but since we were there about 95% of the time, it's easy to look over. The main focus was on the Clefairy and the Moon Stone anyway, Mt. Moon is there just for setting. Also a plus as it was the episode to separate Pewter City from Cerulean City. It won't be long now before we enter the six-episode stretch between Cerulean and Vermilion. (Which I swear took forever to get to as a kid—six weeks apparently was a lot for me to take, though it really is nothing compared to the 28-29-episode gap between Koga and Blaine, so I can't complain.)

This episode used to confuse me, and left a lot of questions hanging. It's also pretty much one of the earliest episodes in which Ash and the gang get super lucky, meet rare Pokemon and save the day, which is pretty common nowadays.
I did find the Clefairy entertaining, however. I feel that they were the reason why I remember this episode well. Without them, I believe this episode would seem quite bleak, even though Brock did catch Zubat, but that took place off-screen.
In conclusion, this was an average, OK episode. Nothing was particularly special about it.

(Speaking of writing, really, 4KIDS? You made a Macarena reference? I get that it's a 90s show, but come on, pop culture in dubs doesn't always work too well. Though there are some exceptions, I suppose...)

Worth mentioning that it's funny in retrospect to have Seymour talking to Meowth for that one scene. I don't believe Maddie Blaustein has voiced anyone in the show up to this point (though I could be wrong and she may have voiced one of Brock's siblings), but there are times where it's easy to point her out. The voice she used for Seymour is nearly similar to the voice she would use for Meowth when she takes over, and it's slightly amusing.

That reference actually reminded me of Brock's mention of Corn Flakes in the previous episode.

I was wondering why Meowth and Seymour sounded similar to each other.
.
- Why did they not show Brock capturing Zubat?
- It was neat to see Team Rocket blasting off for the first time.
- Cool to see Misty legitimately battle for the first time.